Up-to-date Shabbos Versus Radical Shabbos

Dear Friends,

I became involved with Judaism as a boy,
and at age 14, I began the process of
observing Shabbos, according to the
halacha – the detailed requirements
of the Torah path. The halacha of
Shabbos includes various actions to
enhance the delight of this sacred day,
as well various restrictions. I
discovered that among the Shabbos
restrictions were prohibitions against
making a fire - including an electric
spark, ploughing, planting a seed,
severing any plant, fruit, or leaf from
its place of growth, and killing any
creature, even for food (unless the
creature was endangering human life).
Some of my acquaintances felt that all
these restrictions had no place in our
modern age, especially since we now have
an advanced technology which enables us
to do all these tasks with much less
effort. They therefore felt that Jews
should experience a Shabbos which is
more “up-to-date” – a day of leisure and
recreation which would allow any
activity which a person finds to be
relaxing or enjoyable. Due to my belief
in the eternal Divine teachings, I did
not accept their arguments; moreover, I
found the observance of the traditional
Shabbos to be an uplifting experience. I
also sensed in my soul that there was a
deeper purpose to the Shabbos
restrictions, however, at that stage of
my life, I did not how to respond to
their criticism of the “old-fashioned”
Shabbos of our people.

When I got older, I discovered through
the writings of Rabbi Samson Hirsch that
the “old-fashioned” Shabbos is actually
the “radical” Shabbos, as through the
restrictions of Shabbos, we demonstrate
that we are not the sovereigns of the
earth and its creatures. Our
relationship to the earth and its
creatures therefore undergoes a change
on Shabbos, and we will begin our
discussion with the following
proclamation of Hashem - the
Compassionate One:

“Six days shall you do your tasks, and
on the seventh day you shall cease, so
that your ox and your donkey may be
content, and your maidservant's son and
the stranger may refresh their spirits.”
(Exodus 23:12)

Even our animals are to experience rest
and contentment on Shabbos! In his
commentary on the above verse, Rabbi
Samson Raphael Hirsch writes:

“This freeing of all creatures from the
mastery of the human being is one of the
objectives of the Sabbath - this day of
acknowledging Hashem.”

In addition, our relationship to plant
life and inanimate objects undergoes a
change on Shabbos, as it is written:

“And the seventh day is a Shabbos to the
Compassionate One, your God; you shall
not perform any kind of melacha...”
(Exodus 20:10).

In biblical Hebrew, the term
“melacha” refers to skilled or
creative work. Rabbi Hirsch, in his
commentary on this verse, explains that
physical exertion is not one of the
basic criteria of melacha. He
writes:

“The term occurs almost 200 times in
Scripture, and among these there is not
one single instance of the word being
used to denote strenuous activity.
Likewise, the slave labor performed by
the Children of Israel in Egypt is never
described as melacha.”

According to the Torah, if I lift a
heavy piece of furniture on Shabbos, I
am not guilty of violating the
prohibition against melacha, even
though such an activity, say the sages,
is not in keeping with the Shabbos
spirit. But if I pluck a leaf off a tree
or plant a seed in the earth, then I
have violated the mandate not to perform
melacha on Shabbos. For a study
of halacha reveals that the
definition of work on Shabbos is not
physical exertion, but an activity
whereby the human being transforms
anything in the environment for his or
her own use such as for food, clothing,
and shelter. There are 39 categories of
melacha which we are forbidden to
do on Shabbos. Some examples are
plowing, sowing, harvesting, baking and
other constructive uses of fire, dyeing,
sewing, building, and catching or
slaughtering an animal for food. Through
keeping the halacha of Shabbos,
we give up our technological control
over nature.

The word “halacha” is derived
from the Hebrew word “holech” -
walking. Halacha is therefore the way we
are to walk on this earth. On Shabbos,
we are to walk on the earth without
asserting our mastery over the earth, in
order to acknowledge the sovereignty of
the Compassionate One.

Erich Fromm, a noted psychoanalyst and
writer of the 20th century,
discusses the traditional Shabbos in his
book, “To Have Or To Be?” Using the
Sephardic pronunciation - Shabbat – he
shares with us the following insight
regarding the prohibition against
doing acts of melacha on Shabbos:

“It is not rest per se, in the
sense of not making an effort,
physically or mentally. It is rest in
the sense of the re-establishment of
complete harmony between human beings
and between them and nature. Nothing
must be destroyed and nothing be built:
the Shabbat is a day of truce in the
human battle with the world. Even
tearing up a blade of grass is looked
upon as a breach of this harmony, as is
lighting a match.”

A growing number of Jews are starting to
observe the halacha of Shabbos,
and many have chosen to engage in this
process on a step-by-step basis, at
their own pace. As a result, they begin
to experience the special “menuchah”
– contentment, rest and tranquility
– of Shabbos. This menuchah is
discussed in a book about the 39 major
categories of melacha which we do
not do on Shabbos. The book is titled,
“The Sabbath,” and the author is the
late Dayan Dr. I Grunfeld, a prominent
Torah judge and educator. The following
is an excerpt from an essay in this book
which discusses the menuchah
which we experience on Shabbos.

“This menuchah is something much
more than physical rest. It is an
attitude to the pressing demands of
everyday life. Quite apart from the
bondage of work, there are the insistent
demands of our mechanical civilization -
the bus, the car, the telephone; the
demands, too, of our mechanical
entertainment industry - radio,
television, the cinema... Until we
reflect, most of us are unaware of the
toll which these things take of our
vital energy; we do not realize the
extent of our enslavement. To take only
one example: how many of us can sit
alone in a room together with a ringing
telephone without answering it? The
summons is irresistible: we know that
sooner or later we must answer it. On
Sabbath this ‘must’ does not exist. The
realization, the relief of spirit, which
a real Jewish Sabbath brings must be
experienced to be believed.”

Menuchah is on its way, as
there are only a few more days till
Shabbos!

Much Shalom,

Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen (See below)

Related Teachings and Comments:

1. It is written, “Remember the Shabbos
day to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8).
According to tradition, this refers to
honoring the Shabbos. For example, we
bath before Shabbos, and on Friday
night, we say the blessing of
sanctification over wine or two loaves
of bread. And we honor the Shabbos
through wearing fine clothes and eating
fine foods. It is also written,
“Safeguard the Shabbos Day to sanctify
it” (Deuteronomy 5:12). According to
tradition, this refers to safeguarding
the sanctity of the Shabbos by
refraining from 39 forms of melacha.

2. The Torah indicates that the Divine
mandate to safeguard the Shabbos through
refraining from all the 39 categories of
melacha is a mandate which was
given specifically to the People of
Israel, and not to all humankind, as it
is written:

“The Children of Israel shall
safeguard the Shabbos, to make the
Shabbos an eternal covenant for their
generations. Between Me and the Children
of Israel it is a sign forever...”
(Exodus 31:16,17)

3. The 39th melacha that
we refrain from doing on Shabbos is
carrying. We are allowed to carry on
Shabbos within a private domain, like
our own home. What is prohibited by the
Torah is carrying from a private domain
to a public domain and vice versa. It is
also prohibited to carry something more
than four cubits (about 8 ft) within the
public domain. The restriction regarding
carrying helps us to proclaim the Divine
sovereignty over our social and economic
relationships. As Dayan Dr. Grunfeld
writes: “The circulation of material
goods, whether for commercial, personal
or social ends, is the life-blood of the
community; and it is this which must be
dedicated to its entirety to God on the
Sabbath.”

4. There are some searching Jews who
found a Torah community to pray and
study with, but they lived far away from
this community. As they began to climb
the ladder of mitzvos, they reached the
stage when they moved closer to their
community, so they would not have to
drive on Shabbos. This move greatly
enhanced their Shabbos experience;
moreover, they also discovered the
benefits of being part of a spiritual
community whose members live near each
other.

5. For
information on Shabbos hospitality,
visit:
http://www.shabat.co.il/
. For information on how
to celebrate Shabbos, visit:
http://www.aish.com/shabbat/